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Safety first
The City of Port Phillip is intent on reducing the burden of injury on our community by providing a safer environment for all road users in Port Phillip.
Despite the best efforts of a number of campaigns, too many people die on our roads.
Fact: 2,656 people were killed or injured on Port Phillip roads between 1997 and 2001. Consider also that Port Phillip is in the top 10 per cent of Victorian municipalities for pedestrian and motorcyclist fatalities. Indeed, the statistics are alarming.
What are we doing about it?
The council has introduced a strategy that aims to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in the number of fatal and serious road injuries in the next five years.
'This is a big ask but the seriousness of the road safety situation in Port Phillip demands a big commitment ,' said mayor Dick Gross. 'While we've run various pedestrian road safety campaigns in the past, this is our first comprehensive road user safety strategy '.
The road user safety strategy goes beyond the usual engineering and enforcement approaches. Even though Port Phillip residents have shown they're happy to walk, ride or use public transport, part of our strategy is about making these more attractive and helping to reduce dependence on cars.
Presently, about 75 per cent of trips we take are under 800 metres, but half of these are taken by car. An important message that constantly needs to be reinforced is that the speed limit on local streets is 50km. To this end, speed observation trailers placed around the municipality help remind motorists where the needle on their speedometers should be.
In fact, the road safety strategy outlines more than 100 actions the council will take over the next five years in order to tackle the road toll.
Addressing local road safety issues to reduce road-related fatalities and injuries, the council's Road Users Safety Strategy is part of a coordinated, statewide attack on road safety concerns. It will run in conjunction with other councils throughout Victoria as part of the Saferoads initiative which is supported by local government, VicRoads, RACV, Victoria Police and the Transport Accident Commission.
The Port Phillip strategy has the same ambitious goal as the state government's Arrive Alive approach - to reduce fatal and serious injury by 20 per cent over the next five years.
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Port Phillip's approach to road safety
Several features of the Port Phillip road user safety strategy distinguish it from other road safety strategies. A key principle is Road Danger Reduction - this involves a shift in cultural values and it means making behaviour that endangers others socially unacceptable.
Focus is on the 'user'
The Port Phillip approach focuses on the user as well as concentrating on the road network. Our strategy also challenges the typical hierarchy of road users, and in contrast to strategies that emphasise the dominance of car use, Port Phillip's strategy places the needs of 'soft road users' at the centre of the approach.
This means that pedestrians' needs are our foremost priority followed by bicycles, public transport users and finally cars and trucks.
Using this approach, facilities for pedestrians are improved, exposure for all road users is reduced, overall vehicle traffic is reduced, traffic accidents are reduced, and the Port Phillip community moves to become more sustainable.
To summarise, four themes characterise the Port Phillip approach:
| 1. Reducing car dependence |
Improving the alternatives to car travel, eg walking, cycling, public transport |
| 2. Road user behaviour |
Targeting problem behaviours, especially those that cause dangers to others |
| 3. Road engineering and design |
Designing roads that make it more difficult for crashes to occur |
| 4. Leadership, coordination & partnerships |
Identifying groups to work with and strategies to help these groups work together effectively |
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The strategy document
Our  Road User Safety Strategy 2002-2007 focuses on road users as well as the road network.
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Relevant links
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More information
Use eServices to ask us a question, request information or give us feedback online. If you prefer call ASSIST on (03) 9209 6777 or TTy (03) 9209 6713 and ask for Traffic Transport & Parking.
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